Wing assemblies for aircraft

ABSTRACT

A rotary wing having a spar that flexes and crosses the axis of t the spar in two or more points. The spar mounts a flying surface extending spanwise and rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the spar without the transmission of flexural movement to the wing sheets. The spar mounts a rib extending chordwise and rotatable about the spar and comprising rib means extending spanwise and positioned such that they can engage a portion of the wing sheets and transmit rotation to the wing sheets without interfering with the relative movement between the wing sheets and the spar. The chordwise rib is adapted to receive power transmission such t that while rotating is capable to transmit rotation to the wing sheets through the spanwise extending ribsmeans. The transmission of rotation to the wing sheets is achieved without transmission of rotation to the spar.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A variant of my U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,815 or 5,984,230 shows a rotary winghaving a spar that flexes and crosses the axis of the spar in two ormore points, without transmission of flexural movement to the wingsheets.

The spar mounts one or more flying surfaces extending spanwise androtatable about said spar about the longitudinal axis of said spar.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a wing assembly in which axial rotationfrom engine power can be transmitted to the wing sheets of the abovementioned type. In this assembly the engine transmits power to thesurface of the wing sheets without transmitting it to the framework,through a structure independent from the wing framework, withoutinterfering with the relative movement between the wing sheets and theframe.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an embodiment of a wing with a powertransmission assembly, shown in rotary motion about its spar.

FIG. 2 is a detail of FIG. 1

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevation of the assembly along the line I-I ofFIG. 1

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevation of the assembly along the line M of FIG.1

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the assembly shown in a modified construction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings an aircraft fuselage (not shown) has an edgealong the line F of FIG. 1 and carries a tubular spar e transverselymounted in it (as in my previous Patents), and extending outside thesaid fuselage edge F and forming part of the wing framework (constitutedby the spare and a plurality of bearings,) and the wing sheets formingflying surfaces are able to slide on said frame.

The wing can comprise one single wing panel (as in U.S. Pat. No.4,577,815) or two wing panels (as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,230). In FIG. 1there is shown the panel a, namely the first wing panel close to thefuselage edge F, irrespective if it is the said single panel or thefirst of the two said panels.

The flying surface construction is shown in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,815and each flying surface is made in the form of longitudinally extendingwing sheets linked at their edges to form a box-like structure (notshown).

The assembly for driving the wing sheet a comprises a transverse rib pmade of a plate of sheet of heavy gauge extending symmetrically to bothsides of the spar, as can be seen in FIG. 1. The said plate p has a holein its center to accomodate a tube section t, as in FIGS. 1, 2, 3.

The said hole being of a diameter corresponding to the outer diameter ofthe said tube section t which is welded all around its outercircumference to the said plate p as shown in FIG. 2. The tube t has itsinner diameter of a size to house the outer ring of the bearing k as inFIGS. 1, 3, 4. (Retaining rings not shown) within the tube t keep thebearing k in place).

The said bearing K being in turn of a bore corresponding to the outerdiameter of the spar e as in FIGS. 1, 3, 4, such that the said bearingis able to roll on the said spar e.

A power transmission means made of a sprocket S as can be seen in FIGS.1, 3, 4 (the sprocket being of the flat type) and bored corresponding tothe outer diameter of the said tube t is welded to the said tube t (inthe same manner as the said plate p) all around the tube circumference.S in FIGS. 1, 3, 4 can be a sprocket or a timing pulley or a gear. Thesprocket S (Or the timing pulley or the gear) being mounted maintaininga spanwise clearance between it and the plate p such that the sprocket Scan mount a chain (or S mounting a timing belt to be driven and functionas a power transmission means. The sprocket S and the plate p can thusrotate about the spar e through the bearing k. A retaining ring (notshown) is mounted on the spar flanking the sprocket S to prevent thespan-wise movement of the assembly.

A shaft rotatably mounted in the fuselage (not shown) and parallel tothe spar axis E-E and extending out of the said fuselage, and rotated byan engine included in the fuselage (not shown), can mount acorresponding driver sprocket, or a driver timing pulley or a drivergear (not shown) and thus transmit rotation to the aforementionedsprocket or timing pulley S through a chain or a timing belt and thusdrive the transverse rib p to rotate about the spar e.

In case of S being a gear, the said shaft (not shown) is mounted closerto the spar e such that the driver gear mounted on the shaft can engagethe gear S. The said plate (transverse rib) p, as in FIGS. 1, 3, 4 atits opposite ends mounts two longitudinally opposite spanwise ribs mmade of tube or rod generally parallel to the spar axis E-E, theirlenght being such to cover a portion of the wing sheets a.

At one of their tips the said spanwise ribs m are threaded (not shown)to be screwed in correspondent holes z of the plate p, as in FIG. 2 (andsecured with nuts (not shown) also threaded. The said ribs m are thussymmetrically fixed to the plate p and are able to rotate about the spare while the said plate p is rotating.

The said spanwise ribs m mount coaxially each one tube (sleeve) h of aninside diameter corresponding to their outer diameter, and of a lenghtcorresponding to their lenght, such that the said tubes h can turn aboutthe said ribs m about the common axis M as in FIGS. 1, 4. Cotter pins(not shown) at the tips of the ribs m keep the tubes h in place.

As the tubes h extend longitudinally within a portion of the wingsheets, namely within a portion of the root wing panel a as in FIGS. 1,4, and are detached from the said wing sheets, they can undergo alimited rolling on the wing sheets a in the plane of the wing, (ascaused by the relative movement between the wing sheets and the frame,without interfering with the said relative movement), while driving thewing sheets, as they rotate with the ribs m about the spar. Asillustrated in my previous Patents, while the spar e flexes and crossesits axis E-E as in FIG. 1, it reverses its curvature from e_(x) toe′_(x) relatively to the surface of the wing sheets, and thelongitudinal and chordal edges a and g (the same letter for the wingpanel a is used for the longitudinal edge for clarity) travel frompositions a and g to positions a′ and g′ in the chordal plane—Forclarity, the relative movement perpendicularly to the plane of the wing,between the spanwise ribs or the tubes h and the wing sheets is notshown in FIG. 4 (the spar curvatures of flexion e_(x) and e′_(x) are thesame as shown in FIG. 1.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the tubes (sleeves) h are of an outer diameterinferior to the distance between the opposite wing sheets(perpendicularly to the plane of the wing), such that they engage onlyone of the said opposite sheets a, and thus the said wing sheets canslide relatively to the said tubes h.

In case of a rotation direction opposite to that shown in FIG. 3, thetubes h engage only the sheet surfaces opposite to those shown in FIG.3.

FIG. 5 shows a modified assembly in which a side hub type sprocket S′ isbored corresponding to the outer diameter of the bearing k to house thesaid bearing, and ribs (made of rods or tubes) m′ are bent at a squareangle with their ends mounted in opposite holes bored in the saidsprocket and welded to it, as can be seen in FIG. 5. In the same fashionas in FIGS. 1, 4, the ribs m′ mount the same coaxial tubes h capable ofturning about them, about the common axis M′ and thus function as in theassembly of FIGS. 1, 4, relatively to the wing sheets. The chordaldistance between the rib means m and also their lenght to cover the wingsheets portion should be suitable for engaging the wing sheets and drivethem for axial rotation, as can be seen in FIG. 1.

The distance between the said opposite rib means m is to be inferior tothe wing sheets chordal dimension such that during the wing sheets axialrotation, the said rib means keep clear from the wing sheetslongitudinal edges as shown in FIG. 1, while the spar e has reached itsmaximum flexion, to permit the relative movement between the wing sheetsand the frame. Also, as can be seen in FIG. 1, the transverse rib p ismounted such that a clearance is left between the said transverse rib pand the flying surface root edge g in order that said edge g can anglefreely relatively to the said transverse rib p, to accomodate therelative movement between the wing sheets and the frame.

In the proximity of the fuselage edge F, as in FIG. 1, the spar e can beconsidered not deviating from its axis E-E. So this axis can beconsidered the axis of the said drive means S and of the said transverserib p, which has fixed to it the spanwise ribs m.

So the spanwise ribs of FIG. 1 during rotation keep their axis Mgenerally parallel to the spar axis E-E, and generally fixed relativelyto the said axis, and thus they are independent from the spar flex. Thusthe wing sheets during their aforementioned travel, undergo a limitedmovement relatively to the said generally fixed spanwise ribs in thechordal plane.

And, as the spar is stationary, and the spanwise ribs driving the wingsheets being not fixed to the spar and not rotated by the spar, do notconstitute part of the frame (and do not bring any contribution to thewing sheets structural strenght) the transmission of rotation to thewing sheets is performed through a relative movement between ribs notfixed to the spar and the wing sheets, (though this relative movement isdependent by the relative movement between the wing sheets and theframe.)

1. A rotary wing assembly for an aircraft, said assembly comprising aspar intended to be mounted upon an aircraft fuselage, the spar mountingwing sheets forming flying surfaces, whereby during rotation of the wingsheets the said spar can flex without transmission of flexural movementto the wing sheets, the said spar mounting a rotatable transverse riband a power transmission means coaxially fixed together for axialrotation about said spar, the said transverse rib comprising generallyspanwise rib means oppositely fixed to it and extending within a portionof the wing sheets and detached from said wing sheets.
 2. A rotary wingassembly for an aircraft, said assembly comprising a spar intended to bemounted upon an aircraft fuselage, the said spar mounting wingsheets-forming flying surfaces rotatable about its span axis, wherebyduring rotation of the wing sheets the said spar can flex withouttransmission of flexural movement to the wing sheets, the said sparmounting a transverse rib and a drive means adapted to be fixed togetherfor axial rotation about the spar, the transverse rib comprisinggenerally spanwise rib means extending within a portion of the said wingsheets, the wing sheets sliding on said spanwise rib means, the said ribmeans engaging the wing sheets such that axia rotation of said drivemeans is transmitted to said wing sheets.
 3. An assembly according toclaim 2, the power driving the said spanwise ribs being not applied tothem from within the wing sheets.
 4. A rotary wing assembly for anaircraft, said assembly comprising a spar intended to be mounted upon anaircraft fuselage, and wing sheets forming flying surfaces and mountedupon a frame including said spar, whereby during rotation of the wingsheets the said spar can flex without transmission of flexural movementto the wing sheets, the spar mounting a rotatable transverse rib adaptedto receive power transmission through a drive means fixed to saidtransverse rib for axial rotation about said spar, the said transverserib carrying opposed rib means extending generally spanwise within aportion of the said wing sheets, the wing sheets sliding upon the saidrib means, the said rib means engaging the wing sheets such that axialrotation of said drive means is transmitted to said wing sheets, thesaid transverse rib and the said rib means constituting a structureindependent from the frame, the wing sheets being driven by a structurebringing no contribution to the wing sheets structural strenght.
 5. Arotary wing assembly for an aircraft, said assembly comprising a sparintended to be mounted upon an aircraft fuselage, the spar flexing andcrossing its axis and mounting wing sheets forming flying surfacesrotatable about its longitudinal axis without transmission of flexuralmovement to the wing sheets, and rib means adapted to be fixed to adrive means rotatable about the spar, the said rib means extendinggenerally chordwise from opposite sides of the spar and forming an anglein the plane of the wing to extend generally spanwise to engage aportion of the wing sheets such that axial rotation of the said drivemeans can transmit rotation to the wing sheets through a relativemovement between the said rib means and the said wing sheets, whereinthe wing sheets undergo limited movement in the plane of the wingrelatively to said rib means while the said rib means are relativelyfixed in the said plane.
 6. A rotary wing assembly for an aircraft, saidassembly comprising a spar intended to be mounted upon an aircraftfuselage, and wing sheets forming flying surfaces and mounted upon aframe including said spar, whereby during rotation of the wing sheetsthe said spar can flex without transmission of flexural movement to thewing sheets, the spar mounting a rotatable coaxial drive means adaptedto include rib means oppositely fixed to it and extending generallychordwise and forming an angle in the plane of the wing to extendgenerally spanwise within a portion of the said wing sheets, whereby thewing sheets can slide relatively to said rib means, the said rib meansengaging the wing sheets such that axial rotation of said drive means istransmitted to said wing sheets, whereby the frame does not transmitrotation to said rib means.
 7. A rotary wing assembly for an aircraft,said assembly comprising a spar intended to be mounted upon an aircraftfuselage, and wing sheets forming flying surfaces and mounted upon aframe including said spar, the spar flexing and crossing its axis andmounting said flying surfaces rotatable about its longitudinal axiswithout transmission of flexural movement to the wing sheets, the saidfuselage comprising an engine, the spar mounting a rotatable transverserib adapted to receive engine power from the said engine through a powertransmission means coaxially fixed to the said transverse rib, the saidtransverse rib comprising generally spanwise rib means oppositely fixedto it and extending within a portion of the wing sheets and detachedfrom said wing sheets and positioned such that rotation of saidtransverse rib is capable to drive the wing sheets, the said enginebeing capable to transmit power to the surface of the wing sheetswithout transmitting it to the frame.
 8. An assembly according to claim2, the said rib means being fixed to the said transverse rib in positionsuitable for engaging the wing sheets while allowing the relativemovement between the wing sheets and the frame.
 9. An assembly accordingto claim 1, the said flying surfaces including longitudinal edges, thesaid spanwise ribs being mounted at a chordal distance between them suchthat they keep clear from the said longitudinal edges and the wingsheets are able to angle in the chordal plane while the spar has reachedits maximum flexion.
 10. An assembly according to claim 4, the saidflying surfaces including a root chordal edge, wherein a chordalclearance in the plane of the wing between the said transverse rib andthe said chordal edge is maintained such to accomodate the angling ofthe said chordal edge during the 360° of angular rotation of the saidflying surfaces.
 11. An assembly according to claim 4, wherein the saidrib means driving the wing sheets are positioned not in a chorwisedirection.
 12. An assembly according to claim 2, the said spanwise ribsmounting coaxial tubes capable to turn about them, wherein the saidtubes engage the wing sheets such to transmit rotation to the said wingsheets while being able of rolling on the said wing sheets during thelimited movement between the said spanwise ribs and the said wingsheets.
 13. An assembly according to claim 2, the said spanwise ribstransmitting rotation to the wing sheets being not fixed to the spar andnot rotated by the spar.
 14. An assembly according to claim 7, the saidspanwise ribs being independent from the spar flex.
 15. An assemblyaccording to claim 6, the axial rotation to the wing sheets being nottransmitted through a relative movement between the wing sheets andframe means, wherein the said rotation is transmitted through a relativemovement between the wing sheets and rib means not constituting part ofthe frame.
 16. An assembly according to claim 5, wherein the spar has nodrive means fixed to it.
 17. An assembly according to claim 7, thechordal distance between said rib means being suitable for engaging thewing sheets and drive them for axial rotation while not hindering therelative movement between the wing sheets and the frame.
 18. An assemblyaccording to claim 7, the rotation being not transmitted to the wingsheets by the wing sheets of an adjacent flying surface with anautonomous assembly to achieve the flexing of the spar.
 19. An assemblyaccording to claim 7, the power being transmitted only to the rootportion of the wing flanking the fuselage.
 20. An assembly according toclaim 2, the said transverse rib and the said drive means being mountedat the opposite ends of a tube section coaxial with the said spar suchthat a chordwise clearance between them is maintained.